Samgwangsa Temple

On the slopes of Baegyangsan, above the houses of Choeup-dong in northern Busan, rows of brightly painted halls climb the hillside. This is Samgwangsa, a large city temple with a hall that holds around 10,000 people and a 30 m stone pagoda. It is best known for the sea of lanterns that fills the grounds around Buddha's Birthday. It shows a very different side of Korean Buddhism from the old mountain monasteries: the scale of a modern urban temple.

Busan's flagship Cheontae temple

Samgwangsa belongs to the Cheontae Order of Korean Buddhism, whose head temple is Guinsa in Danyang. It follows the teachings of Sangwol Wongak, who revived the order, and its practice centres on prayer to Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. Before the present temple existed, its followers held open-air services at Gwangmyeongsa in Geumjeong-gu for more than ten years, in rain and wind, and vowed to build a great temple. Sources give different founding years (1969, 1983 or 1986), but the large complex you see today took shape in the 1980s.

What to see

• Daebotap pagoda: a nine-storey stone pagoda with 53 Buddhas carved on its eight sides, completed in 1997. It is about 30 m tall and enshrines relics of the Buddha brought from Tibet, Myanmar and India.
• Jigwanjeon: a huge hall where about 10,000 people can attend a service at once.
• Daeungbojeon and the other halls: the patriarch's hall, the halls of Ksitigarbha, Amitabha and the Medicine Buddha, the bell pavilion and the Lotus Samadhi hall line the slope.
• Stone seated Buddha: a 104 cm statue carved from zeolite, a stone widely used in late-Joseon Gyeongsang province, listed as a tangible heritage of Busan.
• Sutra cabinets: a pair of 17th-century wooden cabinets (154 cm and 150 cm tall) for storing scriptures, carved with lotus and peony and painted with plum blossom and clouds. They were listed as Busan cultural heritage material in 2024.
• Lanterns: around Buddha's Birthday, tens of thousands of lanterns are hung across the grounds and stairways; in 2020 there were about 40,000, and the lantern festival ran for about two weeks. When they light up in the evening, the terraced halls and courtyards glow tier by tier, which is why it ranks among Busan's best-known places to see lanterns.

Tripto tips

• Opening and fees: open all year round, free entry and free parking.
• Time needed: about 1 hour to walk around the grounds.
• Lantern season: evenings around Buddha's Birthday are very crowded and the roads nearby jam. Use public transport and arrive just before sunset to see the lanterns switch on.
• Getting there: from Seomyeon Station on the Busan Metro, Busanjin-gu village bus 15 goes up to the temple. On city buses, you get off at the stop by the entrance road and walk uphill.
• Templestay: day, relaxation and experience programmes are offered, covering temple etiquette, a tea ceremony, 108 prostrations and meditation, a Buddhist service and a formal monastic meal, plus traditional culture activities for foreigners. Contact the temple in advance to book.
• Nearby: Busan Citizens Park, about 1.6 km to the south-east, makes a good half-day pairing.